Evolution

Apr 01 2024 100 ep. 26 mins 465
Evolution Podcast artwork

UCTV presents experts exploring the diversity of life on Earth and the evolutionary forces that shape it.

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CARTA: Body Modification - Questions Answers and Closing Remarks

Apr 01 2024 83 mins  
Permanent body modification is a unique and variable practice among humans, not observed in other mammals. Despite being costly and risky, it is regularly performed. Scientific understanding of this phenomenon is nascent, prompting a symposium aiming to assess current research status and prioritize questions for the next decade. The event brings together academics and industry prac

CARTA: Lip Plates in Ethiopia with Shauna LaTosky

Mar 22 2024 23 mins  
In the literature on lip plates in Southern Ethiopia there has been a strong emphasis on their socio-cultural importance and little information about their biocultural significance. Shauna LaTosky proposes that cultural keystone species theory and cultural keystone place theory could provide a useful frameworks for understanding relationships between the agro-pastoralist Mursi of S

CARTA: The Recent History of Piercing Practices in Europe and North America with Paul King

Mar 15 2024 17 mins  
Across continents, material evidence of body piercing jewelry abounds in the archeological record. However, the varying procedures and processes of piercing, healing, and stretching these wounds for adornment remains unfamiliar to most archeologists. This talk discusses the early self-experimentations that led to the development of the Euro-American body piercing industry. From the

CARTA: Permanent Body Modification in Mesoamerica and Central America with Rosemary Joyce

Mar 08 2024 18 mins  
Archaeological research in Mexico and Central America reveals insights into cultural practices, focusing on the history of body modification. Examining long-term patterns helps unravel motivations for adoption, change, and abandonment of these practices. The talk emphasizes how body modification histories in this region illuminate shared identities across linguistic, ethnic, and po

CARTA: Female and Male Genital Modification with Ellen Gruenbaum

Mar 01 2024 18 mins  
This talk offers an overview of the many forms of permanent genital modifications embedded in human cultures, where they occur, the reasons why, the archaeological investigations of origins, and future trends. Included are female clitoridectomy, excision, infibulation, and other practices that affect about five percent of females worldwide; and the male practices that affect one-th

CARTA: Dental Ablation and Facial Piercing in Late Pleistocene Southwestern Asia and Africa with John Willman

Feb 28 2024 19 mins  
Bioarchaeological studies of Pleistocene populations, examining practices like tooth ablation, facial piercing, and cranial modification, contribute to our understanding of social identities and population dynamics. Recent analyses of Ohalo II H2 in southwestern Asia and Oldupai Hominid 1 in Tanzania reveal dental evidence of intentional body modifications. Ohalo II H2 likely repre

CARTA: Permanent Body Modification: Archaeological and Early Historical Evidence with Brea McCauley

Feb 23 2024 19 mins  
Today, permanent body modification (PBM) is very popular. Studies suggest that well over a billion living people have experienced one or more types of PBM. But what is the history of PBM? When did the different types originate? Were they invented recently, or do they have a long history? Did they appear simultaneously or at different times? This presentation examines evidence in no

CARTA: A Multistep Evolutionary Scenario for the Culturalization of the Human Body with Francesco d'Errico

Feb 19 2024 15 mins  
Our ability to adapt our bodies to culture has ancient origins. We suggest a timeline for how the culturalization of the human body evolved, starting around 500-300 thousand years ago. This timeline highlights key moments at 140 thousand years, 70 thousand years, and 45 thousand years, followed by a faster pace linked to the rise of production economies. The underlying idea is a gr

CARTA: The Recent History of Tattooing in Europe and North America with Matt Lodder

Feb 17 2024 20 mins  
This talk presents a new account of the development of professional tattooing in Britain and America since the late 19th century. Research based exclusively in primary sources reveals that the story of what kickstarted the creation of commercial tattooing, and what sustained it, ultimately becomes intelligible as a small and interconnected network of transnational artists and – c

CARTA: Body Modification - Welcome and Opening Remarks

Feb 17 2024 10 mins  
Permanent body modification is a unique and variable practice among humans, not observed in other mammals. Despite being costly and risky, it is regularly performed. Scientific understanding of this phenomenon is nascent, prompting a symposium aiming to assess current research status and prioritize questions for the next decade. The event brings together academics and industry prac